Night came A dirty, black night with rain
by MrsVanillaFrog
Summary: A short view into one night of an american soldier during the Vietnam war.


**Night came. A dirty, black night with rain.**

_The Ambush_

Rain. Fear. Silence. Every night the same. Rain. Waiting. For what? I don't really know. They said to me I had to protect my homeland.  
>But they didn't mention all the rain, that washes the blood away. They didn't mention the nights, as black as the eyes of ravens. They didn't mention the fear that overcomes us in those silent nights of waiting.<br>They didn't mention that I would have to watch my comrades dying.

Here, in the middle of battles, you had better not make friends. Sometimes a bullet will take them from you. Those little, golden things can take a human life. Without warning.  
>Endless rain. I lie on my bed, sleepless. At any time, our commander can shout: "The enemy is coming!". No one can sleep. But we should. In these dangerous jungles every lost second can cost your life. Like Jonny's. He was never able to close his eyes. Yesterday he closed them forever. No one could've helped him. It was a wonderful shot between the eyes. A sniper. Everyone lay in the mud and was in fear, no one dared to move even for one millimetre. But I saw him. I saw this Vietnamese who killed poor 18-year-old Jonny. And I killed him, with an even more perfect shot that helped Jonny to close his eyes.<br>The commander was proud of me. "Good work.", he said and patted my shoulder. But my body shivered, nervous, fearful. I ended a humans life. Was that really 'good work'?  
>"You killed one person, to save the lifes of 10.", said Ayden to me, after we arrived at the meeting point. Ayden was one of the comrades that I really like. I don't dare to call him a friend. In the battlefield, when the adrenalin rushes through your veins, you can't tell who is an enemy and who is your friend, anyway. But now, in those fearful nights that drive us nearly crazy, we don't kill each other. Because we need each other to survive.<br>The deep rumbling of a thunder pulls me back to reality. I hear my comrades breathing. None of them sleep; I can tell by the way they are breathing. Nervous. Trembling.  
>The first lightning flashes. I look outside the tent.. There was something. I saw a movement. It was just like a shadow. Soundless. Fast.<br>"Did you see it too?", whispers Ayden. I nod. It was the enemy. Like a shadow I slip out of my bed on to my feet. I keep my eyes fixed on the entrance. Why didn't commander Byrne give alarm? Something must've happened to him.  
>The next lightning throws light upon us. Now I see the enemies better. Two soldiers, both of them are heavily armed. Slowly, I move my arm to my weapon. I tremble. If they see me with my hand on the gun, they'll kill me immediately.<br>No sooner my hands grab at the cold metal of my weapon, I throw myself on the ground. I aim at the first soldier and shoot. No one heard the bullet as it left the barrel.  
>With a dull sound my first victim sinks to the ground. The other one is alarmed, as he sees his dead comrade. He is confused, wondering where the bullet came from. Before he can call out for help I shoot him. As soon as his lifeless body touches the ground, I stand up and shout: "The enemy!"<br>All of my comrades are on their feet at once. We rush out of the tent, into the black, dirty night with rain and find ourselves surrounded by the enemy. Everyone stands still. It was an ambush. 'No', I think to myself, 'What have I done?'

Instead of killing us, they take away our weapons and line us up, with our backs to the dark jungle, where unknown, scary noises reach our ears. Trembling, afraid and full of anger we stare at our enemies, into the barrels of their deadly weapons.  
>Commander Byrne stands next to me, his face looks terrible. They broke his nose. The rain has washed almost everything of the blood away and I can see the destroyed bones, as they deform his nose to a cripply thing.<br>"What are they going to do with us?", asked the fearful voice of Pete. He is smaller than me, blond and a softy.I look at him. He is trembling as if he stands in the Arctic with nothing more than his underwear. Pete looks at me, as if he would say, that I should do something to help them. But I can't.  
>"I don't know.", I whisper, destroying all of his last hopes.<br>"But you have to know something!", he shouts in his despair and grabs me on my shoulders. Pete opens his mouth, but just a croaking sound leaves his throat, as the bullet drills into his back. Pete slowly slips to the ground, with shock wided eyes staring into nothingness. He is dead. He died right before my eyes.  
>And I saw him. I saw death through Pete's eyes, grinning with blank teeth at me. "I'll get you too.", he says and vanishes, leaving me alone with the awful knowledge of my soon death.<br>Trembling, holding back a scream that would release me from my fears, I stay in front of Pete's lifeless body.  
>The soldiers are saying something in their weird language. It sounds like as if they are quarrelling.<br>Then, after two felt hours, one of them comes to me and grabs my collar. He looks like their commander. He has three stars pinned to his uniform.  
>"Have you killed 'em?", he shouts into my face and points at the two dead soldiers. I don't dare to answer. What would he do, if I nod? He will kill me. But I don't want to die. Not yet. I want to go back to my girl. I want to see my little daughter, who was born two months after I left America.<br>I don't want to die!  
>Again I am trembling, sweat runs down my cheek, together with the rain. I need to swallow.<br>The soldier pulls me nearer to his face and I can see into his eyes. Full with hate and anger. "Was it you?", he shouts and spits into my face.  
>When I still don't answer, he orders one of his soldiers something and they pull Ayden aside, holding a gun to his head.<br>"Answer me!", the commander shouts. I look at Ayden and he stares back. I can't bear it to see his fear, to see into his eyes and hear his voice in my head: "Don't let me die!"  
>I swallow, and look back into the face of the commander. No, I can't let Ayden die and throw him into the arms of death, grinning at me with blank teeth.<br>"Yes, I killed them.", I whisper. A thunder rumbles. I hear a bang as they shoot Ayden.


End file.
